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Thatcham Vision
The Thatcham Vision project is involving residents and others with an interest in Thatcham in improving the town, its environment and their wellbeing.
What is the Thatcham Vision project?
The short answer is that the project is developing a picture of the future of Thatcham which will influence decisions about the town and drive actions aimed at achieving improvements to the community's wellbeing.
A slightly longer answer (based on Thatcham Vision's constitution) is that Thatcham Vision is a non-profit making organisation run by people who live in or use Thatcham. Its aims are to identify needs and opportunities for the benefit of the parish of Thatcham, and to identify and take actions (and encourage others to do the same) that will benefit people and the environment of Thatcham.
Get Involved
Who is involved in the Thatcham Vision project? Well, we're really hoping that it will be you! The main ways in which you can get involved are to:
- join one of the topic teams which are being set up to look at areas which aren't covered in the initial action plan - these are likely to cover topics like health and wellbeing, education, and leisure;
- join one of the action teams which are implementing the community led projects included in our list of 100 actions and projects included in the first action plan;
- become a member of the Thatcham Vision Board which will coordinate furture work on the development, implementation and resourcing of the Vision.
If you'd like to find out more we'd be more than happy for you to have a chat before making a commitment: please contact us and we'll get in touch with you.
Thatcham Online Revamp/Updates
Please note, we are looking to give the website an overhaul. This will take a couple of months, but will include a new look and feel, easier to use interface and comment system with a customizable homepage. i.e. if you do not want to see travel information you do not have to, you can turn it off. A blog system will allow local businesses and organisations to post directly to the system and advertise their events and offers (this will require authorisation before being enabled).
Steering Group
Thatcham Vision is governed by a Steering Group, the members of which are shown below.
Topics
Because there's a lot of ground to cover, we've set up a series of topic teams to look at different aspects of Thatcham, draw together the results of the public consultation exercises we're running and identify actions which need to be taken by others as well as projects which could be initiated by the community.
The first group of topic teams are looking at:
Thatcham Mayors
Sheila Ellison and Phil Dray, both past Mayors of Thatcham speak about their views of the Thatcham Vision project.
Parsons Down Infants School
Earlier this year, Parsons Down infants spent a week thinking about how they'd like to improve Thatcham and then presented their ideas to Sue Everett and Andrew Cooper at the assembly which you can download listen to by clicking here.
Residents
Here are some Thatcham residents with their ideas about Thatcham.
Interviews
This page provides links to downloadable MP3 files featuring people from Thatcham and members of the Thatcham Vision team talking about the project and their ideas about the town.
Statistics, maps and photographs
A document called the 'Market Town Healthcheck' (MTHC) provided a framework for the collection of statistics and data during the development of the first Thatcham Vision Action Plan. This schedule of potentially useful statistics and other data was originally developed by the Countryside Commission for use in local planning exercises like the Thatcham Vision.
Part 3: Implementation and Thatcham Vision Phase II
Phase II (download information here) considers how to take forward the work completed to date, including implementing actions and projects, the need to extend and update the current plan and maintain/develop community involvement. The need for continued funding to support this work is highlighted.
Part 2: Topic-specific Reports
These cover the eight topics that were looked at in some detail and a ninth (Historic Heritage) on work has begun. It was not possible to look at other topics (e.g. education and housing) due to insufficient time and resources.
Postcards Exercise
The first major consultation conducted by the Vision was the 'postcards exercise' which involved providing specially printed postcards in a wide variety of locations around the town. Here are some of the comments we received.
If you would like to comment on any of the points made here, please contact us. From the general public:
Consultation Data
Quantiative and Qualitative consultation exercises have been conducted. results can be found for each of these in the following seciotns.
Qualitative Consultations
Qualiative consultation involves asking people for their ideas and opinions about the town either on written or online forms or during interviews.
A brief summary of results from our first consultation exercise - which includes responses from Kennet School and from members of the public on the Postcards Exercise page.
Databank
This section of the website is used to present data that has been gathered for the Thatcham Vision project. The project is involving residents and others with an interest in Thatcham, West Berkshire, in improving the town, its environment and their wellbeing.
Two kinds of information and data have been collected:
Part 1: Introduction and summary reports
- About Thatcham
- Background information about the parish
- Introduction and background
- Gives background to the production of the action plan and what was done, including research, consultations and involving the community.
- A vision for Thatcham
- This di
Data and other information
Earlier this year we completed our major consultation exercise, the Thatcham Survey 2006. Results of the survey are now available online. A summary of the survey can be viewed online by clicking here. Click on the controls which will appear at the bottom of the first slide to adjust the timing and to scroll through the slides.
Action Plan
The action plan consists of a series of Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) documents which you can download by clicking on the links below which are highlighted in green. A compressed folder containing all the files can be downloaded by clicking here. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the files - a copy can be downloaded here if you don't already have it.